Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Bookwashed and Other Confessions

Although Coyote often challenged my ability to suspend disbelief, it not only held my interest in the end, but even set me up to want to read the sequel, Coyote Rising. Bookwashed again - mission accomplished, Mr. Steele!

Since I have a free evening in Old Town Pasadena, good food and a large bookstore are close at hand. I finished Coyote over a pad Thai pizza at Thaitalian (interesting blend) then made my way to the nearby Barnes & Noble to buy Coyote Rising (mission accomplished), but of course also found some targets of opportunity and bought one guilty pleasure by an old favorite, Larry Bond. This was a bargain-table hardcover of his 2005 submarine novel, Dangerous Ground. Confession: I used to be a huge fan of Tom Clancy novels and an even huger fan of Larry Bond's military and techno-thrillers (not to mention the computer game version of his naval strategy game Harpoon).

Another confession: I've always liked submarines and sub stories, in part because my brother served on ballistic missile subs (SSBN's or "boomers" back in the 80's), and in addition to Harpoon and many military flight simulators, I used to play several PC submarine simulations such as Jane's 688i Hunter/Killer (a great game, but wish I had this detailed walkthrough when I was playing it). The highlight of one San Diego business trip in the mid-nineties was a tour of a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine, the USS Louisville (SSN 724), and I somehow got a tour of the USS Kittyhawk (CV 63) on that same trip (I like aircraft carriers too). So how did I miss that Larry Bond wrote a sub novel in 2005? I guess I was too busy with space stuff to notice!